The show will be performed on Tuesday at the Northampton club.
Irish Christmas in America
Western Massachusetts has a rich Irish-American heritage and it's Christmastime, so a show called Irish Christmas in America seems like a perfect match for the area.
The annual Celtic holiday concert, which features music, storytelling and dance, will come to the Iron Horse Music Hall on Tuesday. Now in its eighth season, Irish Christmas in America features charming West Kerry singer/accordion player Seamus Begley, dancer Brian Cunningham, and adding a Scottish flair this year is singer Aaron Jones of Scotland's supergroup Old Blind Dogs, along with the harp playing of Grainne Hambley and guitar by Téada band-member Sean McElwain.
The show's creator, Oisín Mac Diarmada, spoke about the show during a recent telephone interview.
You were born in County Clare in Ireland. How did coming from such a musically rich area influence you?
It influenced me quite a lot. Growing up in an area where music is still a big part of the cultural tradition and where a critical mass of people is still playing it and talking about it is a very encouraging thing. And I learned a lot from the musicians that I met over the years. It was also encouraging to be in a place where traditional music was valued and you could see its practitioners Doing it on the ground. It was very healthy and Clare is a county that still has a great tradition and there's still a huge amount of young people learning the traditions.
You've been doing Irish Christmas in America since 2005. What gave you the initial idea to do it?
In a sense it's just a lovely excuse to compile a group of great musicians, singers, and dancers and go on the road for a few weeks. That's one element of it. By 2500 already spent for five years touring with Téada on the road, and this is just a great chance to bring in some additional guests to work with as well. I love that part of it, but the second part was building a small show around a theme like that, like Christmas, is constraining because the themes revolving around Christmas are finite number. But it's also liberating in a sense because it gives you a chance to mine those different aspects of Christmas. The last thing about it is that it's a great time to travel and I find that people love coming out to shows during Christmastime. I think people are a little bit more up for a fun show than at other times of the year. I love traveling around America anytime of the year, but Christmastime is particularly special. The country looks beautiful and the towns are very nicely done up, and there's a lovely warmth. I love it.
This seems to be a natural relationship between Irish music and Christmas music. They seem to mesh well. Do you think so and why is that?
Yes. I think part of it is that Irish music, the music we play, is pretty old, And and that's a good reference point from which to play Christmas music. Also Ireland, having been—certainly in the past—a a very religious country, So a lot of songs have had a religious or spiritual sort of feel to them. Another thing is that Irish people, thankfully, are viewed as being very fairly social people around the world and I think that sense of sociability is part of Christmastime. I think the way we celebrate Christmas in Ireland and the way you celebrate it here is very similar, even though we have all been consumed by consumerism to a certain degree. But even though that is the case, I think we still retain a sense of the social aspect of Christmas. It's a great time to get together with family and friends.
Every year you seem to have new great additions to the show. Is that something you strive for? And is it easy to get people to come tour with you?
Yeah, there's a great amount of talent out there and we do try to change it a little bit each year. We've been lucky in that a number of venues have had us back year in and year out, so particularly with that in mind, we know that there's quite a bit of a returning crowd. We try to give them something a bit different each year. It's also good for us.
Your new addition this year is Aaron Jones of the Old Blind Dogs. What does he bring to the show?
Aaron is Just just a wonderful entertainer. He is a natural Tanner, a great sender and just a wonderful personality. It's also great to add a bit of the Scottish thing to the show.
You also bring a sean-nôs dancer (a type of old style dancing) Brian Cunningham. What made you want to add that aspect of the show a few years back?
When the show started, we had the more conventional type of Irish step dancing. And that was great. It worked really well. And then I met Brian in 2008 and I saw the audience reaction to his performance – he puts an incredible amount of energy into his performance. He is just a natural entertainer.